Six more routes unveiled for BusConnects proposal

Public consultation opens on latest instalment of disputed plan for Dublin’s bus service

In several areas under review the plan will require front gardens and other properties to facilitate road widening. Photograph: The Irish Times

Public consultation has been opened by the National Transport Authority on six additional routes for phase two of Dublin’s BusConnects plan.

Homeowners who may lose part of their front gardens to preferred routes on which busways will be run have already been notified.

The BusConnects agenda comprises a substantial redrawing the capital’s bus network. It is a proposed core bus corridor project providing 230km of bus lanes and 200km of cycle lanes on 16 of the busiest bus corridors in and out of the city centre.

In several areas under review the plan will require front gardens and other properties to facilitate road widening.

Wednesday’s announcement of the latest phase of public consultation covers the following six corridors:

Liffey Valley to the city centre;

Clondalkin to Drimnagh;

Greenhills to the city centre;

Tallaght to Terenure;

Kimmage to the city centre;

Rathfarnham to the city centre.

On these six corridors annual passenger growth in Dublin Bus services has increased by up to 19 percent between 2015 and 2018. But the increased usage has taken place in the context of worsening congestion, with delays frequently experienced by commuters.

All property owners potentially affected by the announcement have been notified by post. And one-to-one meetings are being offered in the coming weeks with those potentially affected.

Bus is the main form of public transport across Dublin, with 67 per cent of public transport journeys by bus daily. Commuting to work by bicycle has also increased by 43 per cent since 2011.